These are the stunning images taken of modern Welsh lifeboat crews using a Victorian camera.

Photographer Jack Lowe – grandson of Dad’s Army actor Arthur Lowe – visited the stations in Porthcawl, Port Talbot, The Mumbles, Tenby, Angle and Barry Dock in his decommissioned NHS ambulance, which also doubles as a darkroom, to document the crews.

His visits came 12 months into a five-year project during which he will visit all of the RNLI’s 237 stations in the UK and Ireland.

Lewis Creese, Angle RNLI Coxswain

At each station he captures three images which will eventually be displayed at a major exhibition in London and published in books.

“I was a bit overwhelmed by the extent of the warmth and welcome in Wales,” said Jack, 40, who is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He said not only did crews and the public welcome him with open arms , he also managed what he believes to be a photographic first in Porthcawl.

Burry Port RNLI Crew

Martin Double, The Mumbles RNLI Coxswain

“When I was there on Good Friday Rescue 187, the search and rescue helicopter from St Athan, was on exercise and was just returning to base when it was suggested that maybe it could be in the shot I take looking out from the boat house,” said Jack, who developed a love of photography aged eight when his grandmother gave him a camera.

“The coxswain radioed the helicopter and the crew radioed back and said ‘yeah we’ll come back’.

“I think it’s the first time an airborne helicopter has been recorded with a wet plate collodion camera.”

The view from Porthcawl RNLI Lifeboat Station including an appearance from HM Coastguard helicopter Rescue 187 based at St. Athan

Photographer Jack Lowe, grandson of Dad's Army actor Arthur Lowe has produced the images

Jack said shortly after he was given his first camera he saw his first lifeboat and a second love affair with the RNLI began.

After spending 15 years as a digital print maker Jack decided he wanted to take his own pictures once again.

“But I didn’t want to move into the sea of digital photography and after a foray with a wet plate collodion I worked out it could form the basis of the RNLI project,” he said.

The RNLI gave Jack its blessing although it has not commissioned him – the project is funded through sales of prints and posters – and he visited his first station in east Anglia on January 12, 2015.

And as the glass plates from the camera must be developed within 15 minutes of the picture being taken, Jack purchased an old ambulance off eBay, which had already been Christened Neena (after the sound of the siren), which he converted into a dark room.

Port Talbot RNLI Crew, Aberavon Beach

The Porthcawl RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Crew

He said the time taken to set up the pictures and the fact that the crews can watch their pictures being developed has led to the project becoming “a beautiful experience”.

And this coupled with the fact that his grandfather Arthur was the president of the Twickenham and District Branch of the RNLI and a well-known lifeboat fundraiser, means it all feels like the project was “just meant to be”.

The Mumbles RNLI crew

The view from The Mumbles Offshore RNLI Lifeboat Station

Jon Atkins, Barry Dock RNLI Coxswain

“The process (of the camera) does see the world differently,” he said.

“It’s very sensitive to the ultraviolet end of the spectrum, the bits that we can’t see. Plus you really have to take your time which means the coxswains and the crews are really relaxed.

“It’s the collaboration of this process that makes it come together to make these beautiful photographs.”